The reason for the original director of 2005’s Fantastic Four being fired from the movie will shock you, and, 20 years later, he has now been proven right. Three years before the Marvel Cinematic Universe kicked off with 2008’s Iron Man, 20th Century Fox brought Marvel’s First Family into live-action, with Tim Story (Barbershop, Ride Along) directing. Story wasn’t the movie’s original director, however, as Fantastic Four had five directors attached before him, and the first has now opened up about his experience.
“We were in a weird situation,” Chris Columbus revealed on the Fade to Black podcast (via Variety) when asked about his experience with Fantastic Four. “I had worked on a script. There were a lot of writers involved. They were about to make a movie and I was producing it. I met with the director and had some ideas. I basically said, ‘Some of this conceptual art should feel more like Jack Kirby, the creator of the Fantastic Four, and should feel more like the Silver Age of Marvel.’ I left that meeting and on the way back from my house I got a call from the head of 20th Century Fox saying I was fired and had too much of an opinion.”
Why Chris Columbus Was Right About 2005’s Fantastic Four
Chris Columbus’ comments suggest that he simply expressed the opinion that the Fantastic Four should be more comic-accurate in their debut Fox movie. Clearly, this didn’t sit right with the bigwigs at Fox, who instead took the introduction of Marvel’s First Family in a very different direction. They were pretty far removed from the original art of Jack Kirby from their 1961 Marvel Comics debut – put in darker suits, with the Thing being far smaller, and being pitted against Doctor Doom (Julian McMahon) for their first on-screen battle. Ultimately, however, Columbus had the right idea.
2025’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps has now confirmed Columbus’ opinion that the Fantastic Four work best in live-action when inspired more directly by their Marvel Comics roots. Matt Shakman and Marvel Studios gave the Fantastic Four comic-accurate costumes, put them in a vibrant and colorful retro-futuristic world, and pitted them against low-level villains before bringing them face-to-face with Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and the Silver Surfer (Julia Garner). First Steps subsequently became the highest-rated and most popular Fantastic Four movie yet, proving Columbus right.
With iconic movies such as Home Alone, Mrs. Doubtfire, and the first two Harry Potter films under his belt, Columbus should have earned more faith from Fox. His version of Fantastic Four would have been more comic-accurate, inspired by Jack Kirby’s original designs, and may have been far more successful than Tim Story’s. Of course, we’ll never know whether this is the case, but at least 2025’s The Fantastic Four: First Steps reboot has finally given us what we wanted for the team in live-action for so many years.
Do you agree with Chris Columbus’ opinion about the Fantastic Four in live-action? Let us know in the comments!
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